Today, I compiled a series of quotes that will inspire you to become the better version of you. I’ve been personally using them as my weapon to defend myself from the negative Nellies. You know… friends who laugh at you and think your dreams are impossible. Or, coworkers and family members who tell you that you should be happy with your current salary and “white-collar” office job (or any job for that matter).

Anyway, I sincerely hope this will open up your mind to reach your fullest potential.

1) Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune. — Jim Rohn

If you’ve been following me, you will know that I always talk about how general society engraves this false concept into our heads: to live a happy and “successful” life, you must pursue a “formal” education and get hired by a “big company” who “pays you well.”

I’m not against this idea, but most people think that a formal (or “higher”) education is the road to riches. Most of the time, this formal education is “forced” upon us due to society’s set standards.

Your University degree, masters, and Ph.D [or whatever designation that completes the alphabet behind your name] is what pays the bills. Not to mention, it also entitles you to buy an inflated lifestyle that’s hard to keep up with. Keeping up with the Joneses, anyone? It’s no wonder why most of us end up at the jobs we don’t love.

With all that said, formal education may be a requirement to make a living. But don’t forget about self-learning.More often than not, self-learning is driven by initiative and the feeling of “because you just want to.” This “because you just want to” feeling is your passion. It’s something that piques your interest. As Warren Buffett would say, “The more you learn, the more you earn.”

So, go self-educate yourself on something you have a passion for. And don’t be surprised if you eventually earn more.

2) Chase your passion, not your pension — Denis Waitley

Last week, I wrote a post for those of you who hate your jobs but can’t quit. In that post, I talked about eight things you need to do in order to cope with your current situation. If you haven’t read the post, I really encourage you to head on over and read it.

A lot of the times, we work at the jobs we hate, or don’t love, for the sake of getting paid and having access to our company’s benefits.

Using my fiance as an example, he’s too caught up with his company’s retirement calculator. He tells me that if he stays with his company, we would be set for life (even if I quit my job now) because he’ll receive an awesome pension that would feed the both of us. We would be able to travel a few times a year, go out for dinners, and you know… basically living a pretty comfortable lifestyle.

My response?

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I said to him, “unless you can switch to another job that you LOVE, within the same company (AND be able to tolerate it for the next 35 years), I’m not buying into any of that pension crap!” By the way, I know he won’t love any job there, nor will he be able to tolerate it. So, no, he shouldn’t be chained for the next 35 years just because of some stupid pension.

The same applies to you — free yourself by chasing your passion and not your pension. This path will pay off in the long run.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” — Confucius

3) Persist – don’t take no for an answer. If you’re happy to sit at your desk and not take any risk, you’ll be sitting at your desk for the next 20 years. — David Rubenstein

Most people will tell you that it’s impossible to make a living from your passions. But I’m here to tell you otherwise.

Yes, it’s possible; you just gotta believe in it. Once you believe in yourself, you’ve already won half the battle.

I know there will be times when it feels like the world has come to an end, but you gotta battle your way through until you get it. More often than not, your patience and perseverance will pay off.

Do you want to sit in that depressing cube for the next 20 years wondering how things would’ve turned out?? 20 years from now, you don’t want to catch yourself saying: “I could’ve, should’ve, would’ve, but didn’t.”

4) Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning. –Robert Kiyosaki

Most of us get too comfortable with our current jobs and we become resistant to change. We fear the unknown and that’s why we chase our pensions [the boring but “comfortable”], and not our passion [the exciting but “not-so-comfortable”].

I know this is easier said than done, but we need to stop it with the self-limiting thoughts.

Using money as an example, most people fear losing what they already have. This is why humans have the tendency to save, hoard, and protect as much as they can. By the way, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with saving. I am all for it as long as there’s a purpose.

I think about this “hoarding” behavior a lot, and the more I think about it, the more I ask myself: “Why do we choose to live in the world of scarcity and fear?” With that said, I’ve been opening up my mind towards the world of abundance, love, and “unlimited earnings.” The latter sounds more exciting than the former, doesn’t it?

The same applies to your passions: be more excited about the potential of winning than the fear of failing or losing. It’s the lack of an open mindset and the fear of failing that limits you from chasing your dreams. You know that your only limit is you, right?

Long story short, look forward to your passion and start owning it!

5) I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. –Thomas A. Edison

Even if you haven’t succeeded yet, that’s okay. The more you fail (or should we call them experiments?), the closer you are to succeed because you’ve learned all the ways that don’t work. You may not realize, but that’s already 10,000 steps ahead of the person who hasn’t started at all.

The more you experiment, the more you’ll know what works. So, keep persisting until you find your “ah-ha” moment!

6) Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. –Winston Churchill

Yes, you’ve failed many times. Again, should we just call them experiments? If you truly enjoy learning, you’ll keep persisting and experimenting.

The saying goes: your chances of “becoming lucky” is higher when you keep learning and experimenting [without losing joy or interest]. However, your chances of “becoming lucky” is guaranteed to be zero when you sit and do nothing [i.e. no enthusiasm].

7) If plan A fails, remember there are 25 more letters. –Chris Guillebeau

Just remember, as long as you’re still alive, it’s not the end of the world. There are many other opportunities (A to Z) out there for you. On second thought, there’s actually more than that if you ask me. The number of opportunities is unlimited!

“🎵 If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again… Dust yourself off and try again… You can dust it off and try again, try again… 🎶” Remember our Angel, Aaliyah?

8) You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you. –Maya Angelou

Again, we are usually drawn to self-education when we are learning and pursuing the things we find joy in. It is natural that we become addicted to our passions (that’s when you know you love what you do) and eventually become an expert at it. Once you’re an expert on whatever topic it is that you love, a mountain of people will come after you. This ties in with the next quote…

9) Do what you love and the money will follow — Marsha Sinetar

And when you do get that mountain of people coming after you, that’s when you know you’ve made it. The money follows you without having you chase after it. If you’re able to connect the dots, this goes back to “chase your passion and not your pension.”

Over To You

It’s all up to you now. Your behavior and actions stem from your mindset and how you think. With that said, I hope these motivational quotes will give you that drive to take your first step.

Well, what are you waiting for? Tell me, is your mind thinking about your passion or your pension?

I want to hear your thoughts, so please share your comments below. Or, if you like, e-mail me at [email protected] I will respond to all e-mails. Talk to you soon!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, don’t forget to share it on Pinterest! 🙂

56 Comments

And I love that you did a pic with each quote…very Pin$avvy! I just might save each pic, edit the weblink and redirect the clicker back to my site 😉 #I’mStillNotOverIt

I couldn’t help but start singing to the Aaliyah song! Good throwback there! On a similar subject, my son was being a negative lil’ turkey tonight saying he couldn’t do something and threw whatever he was working on down. So naturally, mom starts singing Ice Cube’s “You can do it put your back into it.” Annnd I may have tried to bust a dance move. Which, got him to laugh and be inspired again to try.

Which is what we are trying to do all the time. Keep inspiring others. Building others up. We need to surround ourselves with other like-minded, yet different enough individuals to help us keep reaching our goals. Ignoring family members that are negative. Saying no to the girls’ night jewelry party, “wine and dine and look fine!” <~ yikes, just got that invite for this week. Umm no. Focus on fam, blog and the great blogging community friends because those are the things and people that inspire me to keep going!

Annd all 9 quotes, which, I will totally print off the doc and put it up in my cube!

Based on what you’ve been telling me about you and Mr. DS, I’m not surprised that your minds are focused on passion!

And about the pins, I hear ya… it really sucks. I didn’t know what to do when that happened to a few of my pins…. :/

And yes. I remember Ice cube haha… which reminds me, one day drake’s “started from the bottom” is gonna be a classic throw back and you’re gonna be like “damn… can’t believe I didn’t know him although my hubby was always singing his songs in the shower.” That song is pretty inspiring, right?? Haha…

Btw… wine, dine and look fine… it’s pretty fun to have those once in while but not all the time to the point where the wallet blows up.

Like you, I’m just focusing on blog, blog community, fam/close friends and reaching FI… seems pretty far but don’t forget to have fun during our journey! I learned from my fiancé to live at the moment as well, and to not worry or think tooooo much of the future. He says to create a fine balance. We actually balance each other. I’m a worry worm and he’s pretty chilled and laid back (extreme opposites). At the end, I’m thinking… damn, he’s pretty happy so I learn from him as well. And from me, he learns “damn… I need to plan a little.” So ya, we are balanced. At the end, happiness is all in the mind. 😊

P.S. I’m glad you can use those quotes as a motivation! Pin them all on your cube to remind yourself every day that you’ve got thissss…

All great quotes. Really like the first one, it resonates to a quote from my college days, “Learning Never Exhausts the Mind” From reading books and experiences in life their’s always something new you learn about. You can learn something from a Warren Buffett or even Baby with Cents. Never stop learning because it will help not only make you a fortune but be much wiser.

I completely agree with the idea of never stop learning. It’s definitely great for self development and you’ll never know… that could be a way to find out about your true passions and what you really enjoy to do 😊

These are really nice quotes! Thank you for sharing them 🙂 They are indeed very inspiring. I’m not a pension chaser too but when I get my pension statement I do get bit excited. I don’t to be working full time for so long in order to get that though.

Great quotes. I’m starting to disagree with the follow your passion quotes. What if you’re not successful in that field? Another approach would be to try different things and follow your successes instead. Most people get passionate about their successes.

Here is one I really liked from Albert Einstein. “A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness,” It sold for $1.55 million. Crazy!

That’s great to hear that you’re good at your job! It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t be good at my job (anymore). I was in the past but I started to change my mindset and things just changed for me, lol.

I’m sure your blog will work out as long as you truly believe in it and treat it as if it were your baby or someone that you really love 🙂

Hey hey Ms. Panda! Just dropping by this morning to let you know I loved the quotes! #9 is something I hear quite a few people say. And it makes a lot of sense. I believe the people who truly love what they do will generally be better than those who are half-assing it in the same field. There are exceptions, but if you love something, you are going to spend way more time learning to be better.

I have a friend who is also in IT. He lives it, always reading and trying new things at home away from work. He is really knowledgeable because of all the time he puts in. But lets just say I have different interests outside of work 🙂 Have a great weekend!

My favorite quote on this list is “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” This quote literally gives me goosebumps and motivates me. You never fail until you stop trying. I have to keep on reminding myself this every day.

Self-education allows you to go the extra mile specifically financially. It becomes even more evident when so many are graduating with a ton of student debt and no education on how to pay it off or manage money once landing the dream job or any job for that matter.

I absolutely agree with you about the part where there are so many who pursue further with advanced education but are struggling to pay off their student loans. It’s a brutal feeling and learning about money and finance is usually a taboo topic.

These are very motivating quotes Panda. I would love to reach a point where I can follow my passion, do what I love and hopefully the money will follow. But before I can do that, I definitely need my whole set of alphabet plans.

Hi Panda! I’m thinking and working every day towards my passions. I do have an awesome pension and benefits like your fiancée, but ask myself do I want to be in the same place in 25 years+ and say this was the story of my life? I mean it’s not a bad life, but I just can’t come to terms with doing that. I loved the quotes on your post! Very useful and inspiring, especially on tough days when you just need to power through! Love this kind of post! 🙂

I definitely understand that feeling of hanging onto the pension. It’s like leaning back on my mom when I was a child when I was afraid of sleeping by myself in the dark — I felt safe in her arms. That’s how the pension feels… very comfortable, reassuring, and safe when you’re in the dark! It’s there for you when you need it!! Totally get it, but I’m going to stay away from it. I’m not sure my fiancé can though lol!!! He’ll see how it goes haha. 😉

My brother-in-law the other day said to me: “Don’t take this the bad way, but you are always so focused when you do something…always trying to get results”.

I think he meant it as a bad thing, but I took it as a compliment!!! When I start a new project, I start it because I love it, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to succeed! I persist, and love to take calculated risks! Especially when the risks are about putting yourself out there and trying to accomplish something.

So yes, if you never take a risk, you just end up stuck! And if you are happy where you are…great! But if you are not, do something and stop complaining!

Yo! This is crazy! I can’t believe you made this post just at the same time that I’m going through self-motivation, self-help and be a badass books/videos/etc!

I definitely agree with you! Our thoughts and beliefs are our biggest assets. We are able to achieve anything as long as we believe it / live by it / give it a purpose and feel it!

If we can just stop wasting energy complaining about everything that sucks in our life and instead focus on how to change it, heck, everybody would be a bit better!

We sometimes chose to stay “comfortable” in a crappy job/relationship/state of mind just because is better than taking responsibility for our own actions, grab life by the horns and stop being a victim of our circumstances…

Haha you and I are similar that we are going through this self-help, self-development phase!

Derek, I also love your energy! I can feeeel that you’re all hyped for your next big project. I know you’re going to do extremely well and excel!

And yes, often times, people tend to complain (which is okay sometimes)… I get it, they need to vent and it’s like binging on junk food once in a while, but they need to go back to focusing once they are done venting!!

I just vented to my fiancé like an hour ago for 15 minutes about crappy work but I’m back to laser focus on better things!

Going to disagree heavily with this. Cute little quote, but really not great advice. This is how you get people with useless degrees in things like medieval yarn appreciation. Passion needs to be tempered with sound judgement.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. –Thomas A. Edison

Agree about self education 100%. I think higher education is very important as well, but self education is where you learn to be frugal, where you learn how to live your life and learn those other skills that can be really useful for you, not just whoever you end up working for. Great post!

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wasn’t made for formal education. If I was interested in a particular topic or interested in learning something, I’ll take the initiative to learn. If it’s something extremely boring (I.e. dry topics at school that put me to sleep), no matter how many times it gets taught, I still won’t get it lol! I’m really odd in that sense. ☹️

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About Finsavvy Panda

Welcome to Finsavvy Panda!I love everything about saving, investing, earning, and building net worth. I’m all for flexibility and balance, so I’d love ❤ to help you do all of this without having to deprive yourself! Since Oct 2016, my boyfriend and I have been working towards freeing ourselves from corporate bullsh!t to become financially independent. If you want to hop on the happiness boat, come join us!